The nomination process for The Miami Herald Silver Knight Awards is back in 2024 to honor high school seniors for their service projects towards the community. Miami-Dade and Broward schools acknowledge 15 winners from different categories for different kinds of service activities. Coral Gables Senior High School nominated six students from different categories to compete for their respective Silver Knight Award.
Representing Coral Gables, Sebastian Lopez was nominated for Silver Knight for his service project consisting of donating glasses. Living in a household of eight people, Lopez recognized many extra glasses that were never used. With eye care treatment becoming more expensive, any pair of glasses would assist those in need.
In February 2024, Lopez commenced his project by accepting donations of glasses in school for any old pair students no longer used. These donations were then given to the Lions Club which is an international service organization that has many clubs around the world to help maintain communities while practicing civic duties. The Lions Club chapter in Miami then used the glasses frames to relocate them to people in need around Miami.
“I noticed that I had a lot of loose pairs of glasses in my house so I thought that there were a lot of people who could benefit from these. I drew some inspiration from other similar ideas from across the nation, but overall, it was my individual idea and plan to collect the glasses and redistribute them,” senior Sebastian Lopez said.
Taking Ms. Suarez’s advice, Caitlin Savage decided to take part in the Silver Knight competition. Her project is called Crochet for Care, and it is a non- profit organization that she started her sophomore year. Savage handmakes the items and then sells them to donate all the profit to organizations in Miami, Kristi House being the one she works with most. This organization supports kids in Miami who have been sexually abused while trying to prevent future cases.
Starting off the project alone, Savage has been recruiting and teaching other people to crochet this year. This year, they will have more people at their events helping to raise more donations. She’s passionate about crocheting and wanted to find a way to implement it into her community where she did just that.
“To start a Silver Knight project, I would say to try and start something like this as soon as possible so you can grow it as big and as much as you can. To me, the most important part is being creative and getting as many people involved,” senior Caitlin Savage said.
Taronish Unwalla began her Silver Knight project with an internship at the University of Miami in the College of Arts and Sciences. The project was funded by the National Science Foundation federal grant which originated at UM. Unwalla applied through the Young Scholars program, which led to an internship where Unwalla’s commitment was 40 hours with other students.
The goal for the project was to build a 3D printed UV-Vis Spectrometer for an affordable $10 due to normal versions costing up to 10,000 dollars. In addition, the students modified the design of the spectrometer while showing the data to see the effectiveness of each modification.
“The purpose of my internship was to distribute this equipment to high schools who needed them so students could be more engaged with STEM. This would give many less-fortunate kids the opportunity to pursue a STEM career while bringing diversity to the field of STEM,” senior Taronish Unwalla said.
Senior Nathalie Schwart was nominated for the social sciences category. She noticed a lot of people do not have access to health resources and decided to take action. Through an organization called Bridge for Peace, she was able to raise around $9,000 for an event.
With these funds, Schwart created a carnival which included a mobile pediatric and cancer clinic, first aid kits and vaccinations. Some fun activities such as a petting zoo, face painting, a ride, games and food created an entertaining environment for all to enjoy.
“My mom has cancer, and when she got sick, I realized how important it is for people to have access to healthcare. Even though everyone hates going to the doctors and getting shots, it can save your life,” senior Nathalie Schwart said.
Her carnival was a huge success, and she was able to raise extra money to hold the carnival again next year. She was able to make many connections with other organizations that came to donate and help out. Schwart hopes she can create a legacy so that Carnival for Care can become an annual event.
Senior Kalel Sada brought the National Business Honor Society to Coral Gables to teach students about many aspects of finance and netwoking. As his project has grown, Sada and the other members have started doing a lot of financial literacy training where they buy different simulated stocks, start trading and monitor how their investments grow throughout the year.
He later decided he would have a good shot at the Silver Knight competition since he has a good background in business being the president of Feature Business Leaders of America and the Vice President of the Academy of Finance.
“As long as you nail your interviews and have a strong background in the category you are doing, you’ll have a chance at winning. Your project is very important, but you have to make sure you have the charisma when you are working on it,” senior Kalel Sada said.
After much time and effort spent on researching the Russian-Ukrainian war, senior Michelle Hernandez came across a non-profit organization called ENGin. They work with Ukrainian students and English speakers in order to express Ukrainian voices about their war with Russia. ENGin provides English speakers like Hernandez a curriculum to help tutor Ukrainian students online, who partly know how to speak English.
Having become familiarized with the website, she has met with a variety of people who live around the world along with some who live in Ukraine. Listening to first hand experiences about the war is what drove Hernandez to pursue this project and help contribute to the amplifying of Ukrainian voices.
“We pair up through buddy systems and along with tutoring them we also have fun like performing food and cultural exchanges. I feel like my assertiveness in researching about the war is what led me to find ENGin, and I have enjoyed my time tutoring many students,” senior Michelle Hernandez said.
With the applications for Silver Knight open until the last Friday in January, Gables nominees wait patiently for the judging to take place in March. Awards will be presented in late April or May with each category receiving one Silver Knight Award. Another 45 Honorable Mentions will be handed out to three other students from each category. Gables nominees eagerly await for the chance to be handed an Honorable Mention plaque with a $500 prize or the Silver Knight statue with a prize of $1500.
